Am I the only Zwifter who is desperately waiting for the regular Crit races on the Crit City course to be reinstated? I assumed that they’d be put back on the calendar once the “Classics” series had finished. These races used to be the mainstay of my Zwifting week. There seems to be a lot of weight doping on the platform, which means that people like me who have been honest about their weight have to enter races on largely flat courses to be competitive. Please could we have confirmation that these races will be reinstated soon? I’m struggling to find races to enter, and I’m finding that I’m using the platform less as a result.
Hi Matt,
We’ve taken the Crit City races off the schedule as we continue to run a monthly racing series.
Starting next week will be the Get Rolling series, opening with 5 laps of Queen’s Highway.
That’s not the answer i was looking for!
The problem I have is that whenever I enter a race with significant elevation, I get blown away on the hills. My Zwift set-up is as accurate as it possibly can be. I race in the B groups. I race on the road, and whilst not being a specialized climber, I can hold my own. On Zwift, not a chance. The races play out as if my opposition are all zero-body-fat mega-climbers. Somehow I doubt that is the case!
I’m aware that you cannot police what users enter for their weight. But until there is some way to make the playing field fairer, please can we have some regular flat course races back.
Does anyone else see the same problem?
I’d definitely like to see them back too. Besides anything, they’re a great introduction to racing and tracking progression. Getting into the main group at the start, making up the first (genuinely small) climb, the second, all the way to the sprint, getting a medal…I think the Queens Highway would leave me wondering what the point is, dropped in the first 2km and by a long way. I appreciate being ‘forced’ to increase my diversity of courses, but I’m a mid B who can hold onto the back of most B rides.
Yep, agree…while the Crit races have been absent, I’ve been using the platform less. It’s good to have a variation on the courses, but my interest will fade if I’m constantly getting dropped…especially if there is a suspicion that at least some of the opposition are claiming to weigh the same as a pre-teen
James - I’d be interested to know your thoughts on the subject of weight doping?
Is this an issue that Zwift are aware of?
I accept that it’s almost impossible to police, but with that in mind, surely you need to run a fair amount of races on flat courses…otherwise people like me who use the platform predominantly for racing are going to look elsewhere for a fair shot at being competitive.
Also, was the removal of the Crit Races done in response to users requesting more variation of courses?
I did some Crit City races, it was a nice thing to have a set course for a race in order to use as a baseline for tracking changes in performance. OTOH, there are a number of other crit races in the calendar, many on flattish course – are they that different from crit city?
Queen’s Highway is pretty flat…
Honestly, we hadn’t done anything other than dump a truckload of CC events on the calendar for ages.
Now we are theming racing events on a monthly basis to give something for everyone (and not just yet another crit race).
Yes…Queen’s Highway is just about viable, although the gradient is enough to give a weight doper a big advantage. I’d like to know what the other courses are?
I notice you haven’t commented about weight doping? I’m not “having a go” here…I’m interested to know whether or not it’s an issue that the Platform Owners are aware of - you must be able to analyse the stats of the users - and I’d guess that the tools you use are clever enough to identify users with “unusual” output. If that analysis has been done, and it’s evident that weight doping isn’t common, it would be nice to have it confirmed. Thanks
There has been quite a few of these types of posts and requests both on here and facebook… So looks like there is a want for a consistent race experience which is regularly available to users…
But alas…Zwift
Please could someone from Zwift answer this post?:
I notice you haven’t commented about weight doping? I’m not “having a go” here…I’m interested to know whether or not it’s an issue that the Platform Owners are aware of - you must be able to analyse the stats of the users - and I’d guess that the tools you use are clever enough to identify users with “unusual” output. If that analysis has been done, and it’s evident that weight doping isn’t common, it would be nice to have it confirmed. Thanks
We know some people don’t necessarily use their correct weight and will look into what measures can be done to make the platform as fair as possible.
@Matt_Higgins have a look at this thread:
Thanks Mike…Interesting proposal…something along these lines would work. It would stop people from adjusting their weight in line with the event they are about to ride - which is what I suspect some people are doing. It still wouldn’t stop those who hold their weight permanently lower…but it would be a start.
Would Zwift be open to organisers putting on more regular crit city races a bit like Elec Spirit do their daily lunch time crit race?
You know I’m always open to event requests.
If someone could put on some regular Crit City races at 20:00 - 22:00 UK time, I’d be very grateful
any particular days or length of race? Looking at the calendar there are some options already like British cycling have a popular crit race at 20.30 Wednesdays
Any week days will be fine. Funnily enough I did the British Cycling one yesterday. Preferably, it would be nice for the 4 groups to race separately. The one last night was “all groups together”, which changes the dynamic - i.e. the “B” group race becomes a battle to stick with the A’s. As far as length of race - anything from 8-14 laps would be fine on the Crit Course. I don’t expect someone to put on a race specific to my personal criteria though